Bridgetown, April 6 (RHC)-- The Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Amor Mottley, thanked Cuba for its help in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic after the arrival Sunday night of a group of nurses and medicines.

 Mottley highlighted on Twitter the Cuban solidarity by welcoming a hundred nurses belonging to the Henry Reve  International Brigade, who flew for more than five hours from Havana, to strengthen the country's fight against the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. 

Together with the Cuban nurses, a shipment of medicines arrived in Barbados, including the antiviral Recombinant Interferon Alpha 2b, included in the protocols for the treatment of the COVID-19 disease.

This is the 15th contingent of the Henry Reeve International Medical Brigade dispatched by Cuba amid the novel coronavirus global epidemic.

Present at the welcoming ceremony were Jeffrey Bostic, Minister of Health and Welfare, Ambassador David Commissiong, Cuban Friendship Medal recipient, as well as Miriam Hinds, National Director of Medicine and staff of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. 

According to Cuba's ambassador to this nation, Sergio Jorge Pastrana, the health professionals will provide services primarily at a new facility built in Harrison Point in less than a month to treat patients affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pastrana confirmed to Prensa Latina that the brigadistas would pay tribute in the early hours of the morning to the 73 victims of Cubana de Aviación flight 455 of October 1976 at the site of the Barbados Crime Memorial in Paynes Bay.

Cuba and Barbados established diplomatic relations in December 1972, and since then, they have exchanged information in areas such as sports, culture, and health, which is now being resumed after years of Operation Miracle.

Barbados announced Sunday the first death by COVID-19 and confirmed a total of 56 patients.

We say bienvenido a Barbados to the more than 100 nurses who arrived Grantley Adams on Sunday night after having flown for more than 5 hours from Havana (with a fuel stop in Antigua) on board two specially chartered Liat aircraft. #beatcovid19together #barbados pic.twitter.com/7Eil1baI7E

— Mia Amor Mottley (@miaamormottley) April 6, 2020